Increasing BPA levels in urine associated with worsening male sexual function

Increasing BPA levels in urine associated with worsening male sexual function

Increasing Bisphenol-A levels in urine are associated with worsening male sexual function, according to a Kaiser Permanente study appearing online in the Journal of Andrology.

Increasing urine BPA level is associated with decreased sexual desire, more difficulty having an erection, lower ejaculation strength and lower level of overall satisfaction with sex life, researchers said. The five-year study examined 427 workers in factories in China, comparing workers in BPA manufacturing facilities with a control group of workers in factories where no BPA was present.

BPA is an ingredient in manufacturing polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins and is now contained in a wide variety of consumer products from baby bottles, plastic containers, and the resin lining of cans for food and beverages, to dental sealants. People can be exposed to BPA by using BPA-containing products.

In a previous related study, Kaiser Permanente researchers measured BPA exposure based on work history and environmental BPA exposure in the workplace (http://xnet.kp.org/newscenter/pressreleases/nat/2009/111109bpa.html). This new study measured urine BPA among participants and examined the correlation between their urine BPA level and their reported problems of sexual dysfunction.

"This is the first human study to show that high urine BPA is associated with lower male sexual function," said study lead author De-Kun Li, MD, PhD, a reproductive and perinatal epidemiologist at Kaiser Permanente's Division of Research in Oakland, Calif. "Also, even among men exposed to BPA from only environmental sources (no occupational exposure and with average BPA level lower than the average observed in the American population), there were indications of an increased risk of sexual dysfunction."

He explained that although the estimates in the environmentally exposed group were not statistically significant due to small sample size, this finding may enhance the understanding of the BPA effect in human populations with low-dose environmental exposure and have important public health implications.

The researchers observed a dose-response association between increasing urine BPA level and declining male sexual function. The observed negative association was consistent across all categories measuring male sexual dysfunction.

This study is the second part of Kaiser Permanente's ongoing research to look at BPA's reproductive effect in humans. Both studies are the first to look at BPA's reproductive effect in humans. The adverse effect of BPA on the male reproductive system previously had been examined in animal studies only.

NASA ISS Spacestation water problem: Calcium levels in Urine too high

The £62 billion space station project involving 16 nations has been under construction 220 miles above the Earth for more than a decade Photo: AP

Engineers investigating a problem with the system, which processes urine into clean water for drinking, said they believed the cause for the back-up was a high concentration of calcium in the astronauts' urine.

Scientists do not yet know if the high calcium concentration is due to bone loss, a consequence of living in a zero-gravity environment, or other factors.

"We've learned a lot more about urine than we ever needed or wanted to know - some of us anyway," said David Korth, the station flight director.

The £62 billion space station project involving 16 nations has been under construction 220 miles above the Earth for more than a decade.

Before the urine recycler was started up in November 2008, it was fully tested by Nasa.

"Folks had good knowledge of the content of the urine going in, but the chemistry changes as it works through the processor are not always understood," said Julie Robinson, a scientist working on the project. "There are a lot of parameters including urine calcium and pH (acidity) that everyone is looking at."

Engineers at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, are hoping to come up with a fix in time to fly replacement parts out on the shuttle Endeavour, which is scheduled for launch on Feb 7 on a construction mission

Witch Bottles: Urine, Nails and Magic Spells

A rare insight into the folk beliefs of 17th-century Britons has been gleaned from the analysis of a sealed "witch bottle" unearthed in Greenwich, London, in 2004.

Witch bottles were commonly buried to ward off spells during the late 16th and 17th centuries, but it is very rare to find one still sealed.

"So many have been dug up and their contents washed away down the sink," says Alan Massey, a retired chemist formerly at the University of Loughborough, UK, who has examined so-called "magical" artifacts and was asked to analyse the contents of the bottle. "This is the first one that has been opened scientifically."

During the 17th century, British people often blamed witches for any ill health or misfortune they suffered, says Massey. "The idea of the witch bottle was to throw the spell back on the witch," he says. "The urine and the bulb of the bottle represented the waterworks of the witch, and the theory was that the nails and the bent pins would aggravate the witch when she passed water and torment her so badly that she would take the spell back off you."

The salt-glazed jar was discovered 1.5 metres below ground by archaeologists from The Maritime Trust, a Greenwich-based charity that preserves historic sailing vessels. When it was shaken, the bottle splashed and rattled, and an X-ray showed pins and nails stuck in the neck, suggesting that it had been buried upside down.

Further computed tomography scans showed it to be half-filled with liquid, which later analysis showed to be human urine. The bottle also contained bent nails and pins, a nail-pierced leather "heart", fingernail clippings, navel fluff and hair. The presence of iron sulphide in the mixture also suggests that sulphur or brimstone had been added.

"Prior to this point, all we really knew about what was in witch bottles was what we read from documents from the 17th century," says Brian Hoggard, an independent expert on British witchcraft who helped analyse the bottle. These texts suggest "recipes" for filling a witch bottle, but don't tell us what actually went into them.

Sulphur is not mentioned in any recipe Massey has seen, although a previously discovered bottle seemed to contain the remains of some matches, he says. "If you think about where sulphur came from in those days, it spewed out of volcanic fumaroles from the underworld. It would have been the ideal thing to [kill] your witch, if you wished to."

Demographic distinction of urine analysis

Further analysis of the urine showed that it also contained cotinine, a metabolite of nicotine, suggesting that it came from a smoker, while the nail clippings appear quite manicured, suggesting that a person of some social standing created the bottle.

Space station (ISS) Astronauts Drink Urine

Astronauts drink water recycled from their urine to toast the official start of their new water recycling system - fit to pass any taste test.

If you have to boldly go.....go green!

A closeup of the replacement urine and body-fluid distillation assembly for the International Space Station's (ISS). The new water recycling system is being checked out in the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The unit will be flown to the station aboard space shuttle Discovery on the STS-119 mission.

I am sure the crew will be relieved to see it. The previous urine recycling unit (URU) experienced a series of malfunctions after installation. The thought of which just leaves a bad taste in the mouth but it does demonstrate how close the partnership and bond is, between the crew inside the ISS. Cheers team!